The Essential Pop Culture Moments Soundtracked By David Bowie Songs

As the sad news that David Bowie passed away after an 18-month battle with cancer began to filter out from confirmed reports on Sunday night, an evening (and morning after) of post-Golden Globes hangover has turned into a time for sharing pop-cultural memories of the artist/singer/performer/legend. The beautiful thing about it is that Bowie left us with a legacy positively overflowing with moments to choose from.

It’s no surprise that David Bowie has always been a big hit with directors and music supervisors alike. His songs very rarely take a passive place in the films (and television) they’re a part of; there’s almost always something stranger, more off-kilter happening. The queerness and gender-bending and futurism inherent in so much of Bowie’s music has been a great shorthand for postmodernism in the last twenty years or so of film. Any time you wanted to tip your audience off to a film’s out-of-time vibe, Bowie was your guy. You could always tell how much fun filmmakers were having with the freedom that Bowie’s music afforded them to break away from convention. “Heroes” can exist in a belle-epoque cabaret or a convertible full of teens; “Life on Mars” can be the ballad of a carnival freak; “Young Americans” can be a blisteringly backhanded slap at history. No musical artist made music this fertile for filmmakers’ creativity. Long may his songs continue to inspire them.

'The Martian'

The Song: “Starman”

Okay, we’re starting the list off easy, and a little obvious. Of course The Martian is going to use a Bowie song somewhere. The fact that it turns out to be “Starman” instead of “Life on Mars” is a bit of a curveball, sure, and very possibly a wink towards not taking the obvious choice. Still, no better song or artist to introduce to the wilds of space.

'American Horror Story: Freak Show'

The Song: “Life on Mars”

The fourth season of Ryan Murphy’s melange of the macabre wasted no time in taking its events outside the realm of time or realism. When Jessica Lange’s Elsa took to the stage to warble “Life on Mars,” skeptical eyebrows got raised at first, but the performance was too committed (and the song too good) to do anything but marvel.

'Almost Famous'

The Song: “I’m Waiting for the Man”

The rock legend that is Bowie takes up a small corner of the Almost Famous story, as the Stillwater tour passes through Cleveland, intersecting with an unseen Bowie, whose presence has attracted a ravenous herd of glam fans.

'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'

The Song: “Heroes”

What better way to feel infinite than to hear Bowie’s familiar wail blasting out of a open-top car, emerging from a tunnel, and bursting into the city lights of Pittsburgh at night. All the ephemeral magic that’s bound up inside Perks gets let out at this moment, and it’s beautiful.

'Frances Ha'

The Song: “Modern Love”

Not only is the “Modern Love” scene in Frances Ha a phenomenal mood-setter for the kind of flighty-but-resonant alchemy that’s happening with Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s Frances Ha, it’s also a fantastic homage to Leos Carax’s 1986 film Mauvais Sang.

'Lost Highway'

The Song: “I’m Deranged”

Of course David Bowie and David Lynch would be a match made in cinema heaven. Or hell. Or purgatory. Or wherever these ominous opening credits to Lost Highway are taking us. It’s a film that’s only going to get weirder and creepier from here, but Bowie provides a perfect launch point.

'Dogville'

The Song: “Young Americans”

And from opening credits to end credits, where Lars Von Trier was able to end his dark fable about American parochialism and hypocrisy in the brattiest way possible, using “Young Americans” to underscore American misery. Such a blatant thumb to the eye, I smile about it every time.

'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'

The Song: “Space Oddity”

There may have been more misses in Ben Stiller’s Mitty, but one highlight involved Kristen Wiig showing up incongruously in the showy north to dedicate a karaoke performance of “Space Oddity” to Walter. Again, the world of the film has showed itself to be a more expansive, elastic, and magical place than we might have expected, and the most efficient way to communicate that to the audience? Throw on some Bowie.

'It's Kind of a Funny Story'

The Song: “Under Pressure”

Another karaoke reverie, this time in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s underrated little film. The setting is a psych ward as Keir Gilchrist’s character imagines a glam-heavy performance of “Under Pressure” by him and his fellow patients.

'Moulin Rouge!'

The Song: “Heroes”

Ah, the Elephant Love Medley, where Moulin Rouge! really cracked itself open and put its beating heart on display. Bowie’s “Heroes” gets a place of distinction, rising to the crescendo of a song no less epic than “I Will Always Love You.” Bless your weird little heart, Baz Luhrmann.

'A Knight's Tale'

The Song: “Golden Years”

Anachronistic pop music in period settings was SO hot in 2001. For the Heath Ledger medieval action/romance flick, “Golden Years” got to essentially be the prom theme, where Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon found their moment on the dance floor.

'Inglourious Basterds'

The Song: “Cat People”

Melanie Laurent’s war-paint makeup application in preparation for her night of revenge against the Nazis would not have been half the wildly epic build-up of tension without “Cat People.” One of the best scenes in any Tarantino movie.

'So You Think You Can Dance'

The Song: “Fame”

It cannot be overestimated how important picking a good song is to the success of a So You Think You Can Dance routine. You never had to tell that to choreographer Wade Robson, who chose Bowie’s “Fame” to score a massive garden-party group dance, using the song’s arch, preening qualities to their best effect.

'Breaking Bad'

The Song: “Major Tom (Coming Home)”

Okay, so technically not a Bowie song. But “Major Tom” is obviously a descendant from the “Space Oddity” tree, and it’s so hard not to include the full-length video of Gale Boetticher’s hella dorky karaoke video. Bowie’s legacy lives on in absurdity.

'Velvet Goldmine'

The greatest Bowie movie that was never allowed to be about Bowie, as the singer famously disapproved of the similarities to his life and threatened to sue. Which is odd, because director Todd Haynes’ film that follows the rise, fall, and resurrection of glam-rock musicians who fall into very David Bowie/Lou Reed/Iggy Pop molds could not have been more of a celebration of what Bowie did for generations of music fans. However close or not close the story is to the real-life David Bowie, there has yet to be anything put on film before or since that is a better celebration of his life and music.